Drier



J. JUDELSON March 15, 1938.

DRIER Filed Aug. 14, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR JULIUS JUDELSONTTORNEY J. JUDELSON March 15, 1938.

DRIER Filed Aug. 14, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 to. O

INVENTOR JULIUS JUDELSON TTORNEY Patented Mar. 15, 1938 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to driers. More particularly, it relates to amethod and means for drying clothes or other material in which there isemployed an improved electrically heated drying system.

One object of my invention is to provide a device of the characterdescribed, having means for causing a drying medium to flow in acontinuous circuit whereby the moist clothes or other material in thedrier may be quickly and effectively dried.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device of the characterdescribed in which a portion of the drying medium which has absorbedmoisture from the moist clothes or other material in the drier may bequickly exhausted from the drier.

A further object of my invention is to provide a drier of the characterdescribed comprising few and simple parts, which shall be relativelyinexpensive to manufacture, economical to operate and highly eflicientfor the purposes described.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a highlypractical method for quickly and effectively drying clothes or othermaterial which may be easily and economically carried out.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in parthereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which thescope of application will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one of the variouspossible embodiments of this invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a drier embodying the features of myinvention, the doors being open and certain portions cut away todisclose the interior construction;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the construction of the heatingmeans embodying various features of my invention;

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly sectional, of the portion of my deviceillustrated in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig.2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 55 of Fig. 4;and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Referring in detail to the drawings, my invention is shown as applied toa clothes drier which may consist of one or more units, each comprisinga drying chamber or cabinet 10 provided with a blower ll adapted toforce a drying medium, such as air, through a series of spirallyconnected ducts, I2, I3 and I4 and into a clothes drying is compartment30, said air being first caused to pass over a plurality of spacedelectrical heaters l5, suitably positioned within the ducts l2 and I3.Thus it is seen that by the time the air enters the duct H to bedeflected into the drying compartment 30 which contains moist clothes tobe dried, the said air has been progressively heated by havingsuccessively passed over the electrical heater units l5. Said heaters l5may be of any suitable construction adapted to heat a current of airpassing thereover.

The cabinet l0 may be of any suitable construction, the walls thereofbeing constructed of single or double sheet metal suitably re-enforced,in any well understood manner, and 20 spaced from each other to providea heat insulating air space 2| between in order to retain the dryingmedium in heated condition in the clothes drying compartment 30. Thedrying compartment may be provided with close fitting doors which may beinsulated in a manner similar to that of the walls of the cabinet III,as described above.

A drying rack to accommodate moist clothes or other materials, may beprovided in the drying compartment 30 and may comprise a plurality ofhorizontally spaced members 28, suitably supported on cross members 29,said members 29 being attached to the walls of the cabinet l0.

To permit the heated air in the duct M to be deflected into the dryingcompartment 30 the top wall of said duct I4 is provided with a series ofadjustable louvres l6 which allow the heated air from the duct M to bedeflected into the drying chamber 30.

It is desired that the heated air entering the drying compartment 30 bein constant motion in order that it may more effectively absorb themoisture from the wet clothes. This is accomplished by providing aventilating device attached to one of the side walls of the cabinet l0and communicating with the inside of the drying chamber 30. Theventilating device may comprise a flue 3i as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 ofthe drawings, open at the top and bottom to cause a draft of air to passtherethrough in a direction shown by the arrows. It is noted that thetop and bottom openings of the flue 3| communicate with the air outsideof the cabinet I. Between the inner wall 32 of the flue 3| and the innerwall of the cabinet l0 there is formed an air passageway 33. Saidpassageway 33 is entirely enclosed with the exception of a plurality oflouvres II which may communicate with the drying compartment 30,preferably positioned toward the bottom of said compartment, and anotherset of louvres 36 communicating from the passageway 33 to the flue Iipreferably positioned toward the top of the passageway a.

A wire screen 40' may be provided to cover the louvres l6;in the topwall of the duct I, so that moist clothes which may fall from the dryingrack will not clog the louvres I6 to prevent the entrance of the heatedair into the drying compartment 30.

The operation of my device may now be described as follows:

The moist clothes or similar articles which it is desired to dry areplaced on the drying rack within the compartment 30 and the doorsclosed. The blower I I is then set in operation. The drying medium,which in this case is air from the atmosphere within the cabinet, iscaused to travel through duct I! in the direction of the arrows (Fig.2), passing successively over the heaters 5 to become progressively moreheated and dried as it passes over said heaters. The air is then guidedinto the duct i3 and caused to travel in said duct i3 over another setof electrical heaters I5 to be further heated and dried. The air is thenguided by a curved connection into the duct H from which it is deflectedinto the drying compartment 30 through a series of adjustable louvres l6positioned in the top wall of the duct I.

Since it is seen that the air entering the drying compartment is heatedand under pressure it will therefore circulate freely through the dryingcompartment 30 in the direction as shown by the arrows in Fig. 1 of thedrawings to absorb the moisture from the moist clothes therein. It willbe noted that the blower II is positioned entirely within the cabinet I0and therefore the air supply entering the intake of the blower ii willcome from within the cabinet Ill. As shown in the drawings, the dryingcompartment 30 communicates with the intake of the blower ll through anopening 40. Therefore it is seen that a continuous circuit of the dryingmedium or air is established. The air from the drying compartment 30 isdrawn into the blower II and forced through the ducts l2, l3 and I4 andthence into the drying compartment 30 to circulate therein and absorbthe moisture from the moist clothes and to ultimately be drawn into theblower intake again' through the passageway 40 to be recirculated.

It is seen that after a short period of opera tion the air entering theblower ll through passageway 40 will have already been heated so thateach time it is passed through the ducts l2 and I3 containing theelectrical heaters IS, the air will emerge from the ducts it in aslightly more heated condition than previously. This process ofre-heating the re-circ'ulated air will continue until the air hasreached a predetermined temperature.

At the same time that the air is caused to circulate in a continuouscircuit as described above, a portion of the moist air in the dryingchamber 30 is exhausted to the outside of the cabinet III by means ofthe ventilating device hereinbefore described. Due to the action of thedraft of air passing through the flue 3| in the direction of the arrowsas shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, a portion of the moist air withinthe drying compartment II will be drawn into the eway II through thelouvres I5 and thence into flue ll through a set of louvres 36 to beultimately exhausted through the top of the flue II.

To replenish the air that is exhausted from the cabinet III by means ofthe ventilating device described above, the front wall of the cabinet Itmay be provided with a grilled or perforated portion 45 to allowthe airfrom the outside to enter the cabinet ll. i

It will thus be seen that there is provided a method and apparatus inwhich the several objects oi. this invention are achieved, and which iswell adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention,and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth,it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in theaccompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. In a drier of the character described, a hollow cabinet comprising aperforated wall dividing said cabinet into an upper and a lowercompartment, a zig-zag passageway in said lower compartment havingpositioned therein a plurality of spaced electrical heaters, meansincluding a blower in said lower compartment for introducing a dryingmedium into said passageway at one end thereof, to cause said medium topass over said heaters to be progressively heated and dried, and meansassociated with the other end of said passageway for angularlydeflecting said drying medium into said upper compartment.

2. In a drier of the character described, a drying compartmentcomprising side, top and bottom walls, said bottom wall beingperforated, means for circulating a heated drying medium in said dryingcompartment through said bottom wall, and means for exhausting a portionof said circulating drying medium from said drying compartment, saidlast named means including an independent flue supported by said drierand positioned outside of said drying ompartment, said flue having bothends thereof open to the atmosphere outside of said drier, the said wallof said flue adjacent to drier being spaced from and parallel to theside wall of the drier adjacent said flue, a communicating passagewaybetween said flue and said drying compartment, said flue being soconstructed and arranged whereby a current of air will enter the loweropen end and flow therethrough and out of the upper open end to cause asuction which will draw a portion of the air from said dryingcompartment through said communicating passageway.

3. In a drier of the character described, a drying compartmentcomprising side, top and bottom walls, said bottom wall beingperforated, means for circulating a heated drying medium in said dryingcompartment through said bottom wall, and means for exhausting a portionof said circulating drying medium from said drying compartment, saidlast named means including an independent flue supported by said drierand p0- sitioned outside of said drying compartment, said flue havingboth ends thereof open to the atmosphere outside of said drier, the saidwall of said flue adjacent to drier being spaced from and parallel tothe side wall of the drier adjacent said flue, a communicatingpassageway between said flue and said drying compartment, said fluebeing so constructed and arranged whereby a current of air will enterthe lower open end and flow therethrough and out of the upper open endto cause a suction which will draw a portion of the air from said dryingcompartment through said communicating passageway, said communicatingpassageway comprising an enclosed air space between said flue and saiddrying compartment, and openings in said flue and in said dryingcompartment communicating with said air space.

4. In combination with a drier of the character described having adrying compartment, means for circulating a heated drying medium in saiddrying compartment, means for re-circulating said drying medium in saidcompartment, means for exhausting a portion of said drying medium fromsaid drying compartment while said drying medium is, circulating, saidlast named means including an independent flue positioned outside ofsaid drier, said flue having both ends thereof open to the atmosphereoutside of said drier and an enclosed air passage between said flue andsaid drying compartment, a plurality of louvres in said fluecommunicating with said air passage, and a plurality of louvres in saiddrying compartment communicating with said air passage.

5. In combination with a drier of the character described having adrying compartment, means for circulating a heated drying medium in saiddrying compartment, means for re-circulating said drying medium in saidcompartment and means for exhausting a portion of said drying mediumfrom said drying compartment while said drying medium is circulating,said last named means including an independent flue positioned outsideof said drier, said flue having both ends thereof open to the atmosphereoutside of said drier, and an enclosed air passage between said flue andsaid drying compartment, a plurality of louvres in said fluecommunicating with a portion adjacent the top of said air passage and aplurality of louvres in said drying compartment communicating with aportion adjacent the bottom of said air passage,

6. A drier of the character described comprising, a continuousdirectional changing duct having parallel longitudinal walls, acompartment for said duct, a blower in said duct compartment connectedto one end of said duct for forcing a drying medium therethrough, adrying compartment disposed adjacent said duct compartment, said dryingcompartment having a perforated wall communicating with said ductcompartment and means for angularly deflecting the drying medium fromsaid duct to said drying compartment comprising a plurality of spacedlouvres in the topmost longitudinal Wall of said duct, said blower andsaid duct being so constructed and arranged in said duct compartmentwhereby the suction created by the operation of the blower will drawsome of the drying medium circulating in the drying compartment throughsaid perforated wall into the blower inlet to be forced through the ductand to be recirculated in the drying compartment.

JULIUS JUDELSON.

